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A HISTORY OF POPULATION SETTLEMENT

Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development April 2013 A POPULATION SETTLEMENT

Prepared by: ERIC SANDBERG, Research Analyst

Contributors: EDDIE HUNSINGER, State Demographer SARA WHITNEY, Editor

Research and Analysis SecƟ on, Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development, Division of AdministraƟ ve Services laborstats.alaska.gov

On the cover: Pioneers on the trail at Chilkoot Pass during the Klondike , 1898. Photo courtesy of Alaska State Library Historical Collec ons, Winter and Pond. Table of Contents

The First Alaskans ...... 4 ...... 6 Early American Alaska ...... 8 Gold Rush Era ...... 9 Interwar Period...... 10 World War II and the Militariza on . . .12 North Slope Crude and the Oil Boom and Bust . .13 Alaska Since 1990 ...... 14 Summary ...... 18 References...... 19

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 3 laska has the longest history of human habita on and se lement of any place Many Na ve groups lived semi- in the Americas. Throughout that his- nomadic lifestyles, staying in one tory, the state’s se lement has been spot over the winter and traveling shapedA primarily by geography, fur, fi sh, gold, railroads, oil, war, and military strategy. great distances to hunt and fi sh in summer. These factors directly infl uenced the se lement pa erns of Alaska and how popula on centers waxed and waned over me. Examples are dot- Strait, the 53 mile-wide channel that separates ted throughout history, from the growth and the two con nents, was an open plain crossable decline of gold rush boomtowns like Nome and on foot during the Ice Age. The exact nature of Skagway to the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline bringing this migra on has been a controversial scholarly in the oil economy with its price-based fl uctua- debate, however. Hypotheses have diff ered on ons. the route taken, whether over land through the Bering Land Bridge or by sea through the Aleu- Presen ng a concise history of Alaska’s se le- an Islands. ment and its es to popula on sta s cs is not easy — the topic is one that could fi ll several Whether there was one large migra on or three books, and each era is marked by widely diff er- migra ons at diff erent me periods is also a mat- ent levels of data availability. Many important ter of con nuing debate and research. One line historical moments are not evident in popula- of thinking focuses on one migra on from Asia on numbers, and some large changes cannot from which all indigenous peoples of the Ameri- be readily explained. S ll, looking at Alaska his- cas descend. Another is that several waves of tory through popula on se lement numbers migra ons spanned thousands of years, with dif- provides context for much of the state’s trans- ferent groups within Alaska arriving at diff erent forma on. mes. According to this hypothesis, the ances- tors of Athabascans and groups arrived in Tracing Alaska’s se lement begins with the Alaska in an earlier migra on than the ancestors indigenous peoples before contact with Europe- of and Eskimos. (Vadja) ans, through Russian America and the U.S. Pur- chase, followed by the Gold Rush, World War II, Surveying the landscape of Alaska before Euro- the Cold War, the oil boom and bust, and to the pean contact reveals se lement not altogether modern day. diff erent from the larger Alaska Na ve regions of the state today. Many of the past villages The popula on data come from several sourc- were in coastal regions or along the great riv- es, primarily U.S. Census records that have ers of the interior of Alaska. Many groups lived been released every 10 years since 1880 for semi-nomadic lifestyles, staying in one spot Alaska. Early censuses also included overviews over the winter and traveling great distances to of all counts conducted during the Russian hunt and fi sh in summer. America me period. Several books and aca- demic publica ons, listed at the end, provided UAA anthropology professor Steve Langdon es- es mates and historical narra ve. Finally, all mates that approximately 80,000 people lived rounded popula on numbers are approxi- in Alaska by the me of contact with Europeans, mate. which began in the mid-1700s. (See Figure 1.) This popula on number was not reached again THE FIRST ALASKANS un l World War II. All numbers presented in this sec on are Lang- nthropologists have long surmised that the don’s es mated values at the point of contact Aroute of human migra on from Asia into with Europeans (defi ned as the fi rst signifi cant North America came through Alaska. The Bering direct interac on) that he published in his

4 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT Figure 1: Map of diff erent Na ve groups with pre-contact popula ons (Langdon) book The NaƟ ve People of Alaska, numbers before contact. that are used by the Alaska Na ve Heritage Center in Anchorage. Along the Aleu an Islands, west of Port Moller, lived the Unangan people. Commonly referred Prior to fi rst contact, 15,000 people lived in to by their Russian name “,” they likely Southeast, the realm of the Tlingit. The largest numbered between 15,000 and 18,000 for the congrega ons resided near the S kine River en re island chain. According to Langdon, Un- close to Wrangell and the Chilkat River near angan numbers are more diffi cult to es mate Haines, both close to routes through the moun- because they were the fi rst to come into con- tains. In addi on to the Tlingit, around 1,800 tact with Europeans and suff ered overwhelm- Haida lived on the southern half of Prince of ing popula on loss a erward. Wales Island. Haida were based primarily in modern-day Bri sh Columbia, but their range North of the Aleu ans, the Yupik people occu- crossed into Alaska. pied the lower regions and deltas of the and Kuskokwim rivers, plus the area around Around the , the Alu iq were the Bristol Bay. This, the most populous Alaska Na- dominant group. Around 2,000 Alu iq lived in ve area of the state today, had around 19,500 the area and an addi on- Yupiit at fi rst contact. Of this total, most — al 1,500 resided along the coastal Kenai Penin- 13,500 — lived in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta sula and . However, the center region and on Nunivak Island. Another 3,000 of Alu iq culture was , home to lived around Bristol Bay. The remaining groups between 12,000 and 15,000 people. One of the were either along Norton Sound (1,500) or on largest se lement areas was the Karluk River St. Lawrence Island (1,500). A large village near on the western side of Kodiak Island. This salm- the site of Gambell was likely home to 500-600 on-rich river likely had around 1,800 people liv- residents. ing nearby, making it among the most populous community or set of communi es in Alaska Inupiat along the northern coastal regions were

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 5 among the last groups to encounter Europeans. Coastal villages with abundant resources had a Russia was in control of the en re more sta onary year-round popula on, while landmass that became Alaska, but inland Inupiat were nomadic. Large concentra- ons of people lived in strategic coastal spots in truth their direct control varied such as modern-day Wales, Point Hope, and from heavy-handed to nonexistent. Barrow. The Kotzebue Sound region had the largest popula on at 4,000. Nearly 3,500 peo- ple lived up along the North Slope, 1,500 on the areas, saw li le if any Russian presence. , and 1,000 on the off shore islands. While the Russians did not extensively se le Alaska, their coming had a devasta ng eff ect The inland Athabascan people lived mostly on the indigenous popula on. Disease brought along the rivers of the interior. Totaling 11,000 from Europe ravaged the local popula on. people, many Athabascan groups moved Many epidemics swept through during the around to several fi shing and hun ng camps Russian America period, including dysentery, per year in search of food. The Dena’ina group infl uenza, typhoid, whooping cough, and around numbered 3,000 people, measles. The most deadly epidemic was the and the Ahtna group in the Copper River valley smallpox outbreak from 1835 to 1840, which numbered 1,000. Most other Athabascans lived struck hardest in and Ko- along the Yukon/Kuskokwim/Tanana river wa- diak. Few medical personnel were sta oned in tersheds. The groups closer to the modern-day the colony and vaccines were in short supply, boundary with numbered 2,200, while worsening the crisis. (Gibson) the groups farther downriver numbered 4,800. The total popula on loss of Alaska Na ves from RUSSIAN AMERICA all causes during the Russian America period is unknown. Es mates are 80 percent of the Aleut and Koniag (Kodiak) popula ons and 50 percent he fi rst foray of Europeans into Alaska was of the Chugach (Prince William Sound), Tlingit, Tthe voyage of Danish explorer , Haida, and Dena’ina popula ons. (Langdon) who reached Alaska in 1741 on behalf of the tsar of Russia. Soon other European na ons During the en re period of Russian coloniza on, such as Spain and Great Britain began sending there was no a empt at a complete census, for vessels through Alaska’s coastal waters, but it a couple of reasons. First, the Russian footprint was the Russians who claimed the land, hunt- remained minimal to nonexistent in several ing for furs and bringing the Russian Orthodox areas of Alaska, including much of the arc c Church with them. (See Figure 2.) and upriver areas of the Yukon Basin. The other reason is that many of the censuses were con- The tsar made this claim offi cial in 1799 with a ducted by the Russian-Orthodox Church, which ukase (decree) gran ng the newly formed Rus- only counted believers. sian-American Company exclusive trading rights and judicial power over the Aleu ans and North S ll, several popula on counts were made in America above 55 degrees la tude. (Later trea- Russian America by the church and Russian- es and commissions would set Alaska’s exact American Company. Early counts of Kodiak Is- boundary.) land in the late 18th century placed the popula- on at 6,000. The fi rst large scale enumera on On maps of that me period, Russia was in control ordered in 1819 counted 14,019 people in Rus- of the en re landmass that became Alaska, but in sian America, 391 of whom were Russian. This truth their direct control varied from heavy-hand- count did not include anyone in interior, arc c, ed to nonexistent. (Borneman) In the Aleu ans, or western Alaska north of the Alaska Peninsula. the Unangans were subjugated by force and made Several smaller es mates of Alaska Na ves fol- to hunt sea o ers for the Russian fur trade. Other lowed in subsequent years, including an es - areas, including the Arc c region and inland rivers mate of 5,850 Tlingit in 1835.

6 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT Figure 2: Map of principal Russian se lements during the Russian America period

Father Ioann Veniaminov, a Russian Orthodox already living on the island. (Gates) Alexander missionary and scholar who later became Bish- Baranof, a fur trader and later , es- op Innocent, produced an es mate of 39,813 tablished two important Russian se lements. people for Russian America in 1839. No ceably In 1791, he moved the Russian se lement on higher than other Russian counts and es - southwest Kodiak Island at to mates, Veniaminov surmised that beyond those the site of modern-day Kodiak. Baranof later areas known, 17,000 people had not been founded New Archangel (Sitka) in 1804, follow- contacted yet. He es mated 7,000 people lived ing a ba le with the local Tlingit. New Arch- along the and 5,000 Tlingit angel became the capital and administra ve lived in Southeast, the most populated areas in center of Russian-America as well as the most Alaska. He put the total number of Russians at populous Russian se lement. 706, with 1,295 “Creoles,” or those born of Rus- sian and Na ve parents. By the 1860s, tsarist Russia was seeking a buyer for Alaska. The fur trade that had once made Before the sale of Alaska, Russian-American the colony so lucra ve had collapsed, and there Company popula on numbers compiled from was no industry to take its place. The United 1830 to 1863 show Alaska’s popula on ranged States and Great Britain were best suited to between 11,022 and 7,224. Though the es - take advantage. Britain, which s ll controlled mates of Alaska Na ves were low, the report Canada, was Russia’s great imperial rival in Asia also listed the peak Russian popula on in the and opponent in the Crimean War, while the territory at 823 in 1839. had enjoyed generally good rela- ons with the tsar. Many Americans with impe- During the Russian America period, several rial ambi ons hoped the purchase of Alaska se lements formed the center of Russian life would be a step toward expanding into Bri sh in the colony. The earliest Russian se lement Canada. (Borneman) was a fur trading post at Unalaska, founded in the 1770s following ba les with the Aleuts The U.S. deal to buy Alaska from Russia for $7.2

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 7 90% the number of Americans in the colony was

80% low un l the early 1880s. In the early years, the popula on did not look that diff erent from Rus- 70% sian America, with a few hundred whites living

60% in an overwhelmingly Alaska Na ve land.

50% Many of the outsiders fi rst into Alaska were 40% soldiers. In the late 1860s, the U.S. Army set up 30% several forts at various sites such as Port Ton- gass, Wrangell, Kodiak, Kenai, and Sitka. All ex- 20% cept Sitka were soon abandoned, and by 1870 10% there were fewer than 100 soldiers in Alaska.

0% 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 The fi rst census of Alaska was not conducted Figure 3: Percentage in Alaska iden fi ed as white, 1880 to 2010 (U.S. un l 1880. Ivan Petroff , a special agent of the Census) census, traveled throughout Alaska conduc ng the count. (He also supervised the 1890 count.) million, or 2 cents an acre, was signed on March The results looked similar to Father Veniami- 30, 1867. The transfer of power ceremony took nov’s es mates in 1839. Out of 33,426 people, place in October of that year on Castle Hill in only 430 were white se lers. (See Figure 3.) Of Sitka. the 430 whites, 293 of them — or 68 percent — lived in Southeast Alaska, with 157 in the

capital of Sitka and 105 in the old fortress town EARLY AMERICAN ALASKA of Wrangell.

The vast majority in the count were Alaska he early American years of Alaska, cor- Na ves. The various groups classifi ed as “Eski- Tresponding roughly to the 30-year period mos,” living primarily in Northern and Western between the of 1867 and the Alaska, made up 53 percent of the state popula- start of the gold rush in 1897, were an era when on. Various other Na ve groups including Tlin- Alaska grew li le and had a small government git and Athabascans were 40 percent of the to- footprint. The military ruled Alaska directly in tal popula on. An addi onal 1,756 people were the early years, but was tasked more with keep- classifi ed as “Creole,” which in this case meant ing order than with se ng up a government. descendents of Russians born in Alaska.

Many of the early Americans who came to The 1880s marked the fi rst large scale move- Alaska were missionaries, explorers, soldiers, or ment of non-Na ves into Alaska, with new min- prospectors. As more outsiders came in, confl ict ing discoveries. Though dwarfed in numbers in with Alaska Na ves increased — par cularly in the later gold rush years, the new se lers built Southeast Alaska. towns and started to change the se lement pa erns in the territory. In late 1880, local Tlin- A er several skirmishes including the shelling git Chief Kowee led prospectors Richard Harris of Angoon by the U.S. Navy in 1882, the federal and Joe Juneau to a creek on the Gas neau government fi nally established more control Channel that contained gold nuggets. The town with the First of 1884. This set up site staked out near the claim was eventually a bare bones civilian government with laws named Juneau. brought from Oregon, the nearest state at the me. S ll, the new had few of- By the 1890 U.S. Census, Juneau was the largest fi cials and administrators for a territory so large. city in Alaska, with 1,253 people. Across the chan- nel, an addi onal 402 people lived at the new The popula on infl ux of Americans was slow fol- town site of Douglas near the new Treadwell mine lowing the Alaska Purchase. Alaska Na ves were and se lement. Both towns depended on min- not fully counted as U.S. ci zens un l 1924, so ing, and many people moved in to take jobs in the

8 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT consciousness into a place of tremendous and The 1880s marked the fi rst large- largely untapped natural resources. New set- scale movement of non-Na ves tlers moved into regions of the territory where few non-Na ves had lived before, and this led to into Alaska. the U.S. government’s increasing interest in es- tablishing poli cal control. (Naske) Much of the popula on growth and se lement turned out to mine or supplemental industries. In the 1890 Cen- be temporary as boom towns came and went, sus, Petroff wrote, “At the present day, the towns and much of the money earned went south. of Juneau and Douglas supply the only examples in Alaska of American Fron er se lements aff ord- The 1900 Census captured a portrait of Alaska ing the ordinary necessi es and conveniences of during this hec c period. The total popula on civilized life.” By 1906, the capital of Alaska would had nearly doubled from 1890 to 63,592 people be moved to Juneau. now in the territory. The male-to-female ra o also increased, from 150 males per 100 females The growth of the fi shing and canning industry in 1890 to 258 males per 100 females in 1900. took off in the 1880s as well. The 1890 Census (See Figure 4.) reported that of the 4,298 white inhabitants in Alaska, 2,277 were temporary outsiders mostly The se lement pa erns of Alaska changed employed in the cannery industry. dras cally with all of the newcomers. Nome, a gold mining boom town on the Seward Penin- In most areas of Alaska, with the excep on of sula, was Alaska’s largest city at 12,488 people Southeast, the white inhabitants in the 1890 and nearly 20 percent of the territory’s popula- Census were cannery workers. In Kodiak, 928 of on. No se lement in Alaska had been known the 1,105 whites were cannery workers, as well to be this large before, and no incorporated city as 310 of 318 in the Nushagak area. In the arc c would reach 20 percent of the total popula on region, 381 of the 391 whites worked on whal- again un l Anchorage in the 1960 census. ing ships. The second-largest city in Alaska was Skagway, The seafood industry also brought in a large with 3,117 people. Juneau and Sitka were the number of Asian immigrants — 2,288 in 1890. only other se lements with more than 1,000 This popula on of men (no Asian women were inhabitants at that me, with 1,864 and 1,396 counted) worked mostly in the cannery busi- respec vely. ness. There were 542 Asian workers in Karluk on Kodiak Island at that me.

280 258.9 260 GOLD RUSH ERA 247.9

240 he fi rst large-scale growth in Alaska since 220 Tthe U.S. takeover was a direct result of the 1896 gold strike in the Klondike region of the 200

Yukon Territory. Thousands of would-be pros- 180 168.5 161.6 pectors set out along the most direct route to 160 150.3 152.1 the Klondike through the towns of Skagway 145.7 140 132.3 and Dyea through the Chilkoot Pass. Other 119.1 120 112.8 111.4 prospectors fanned out across Alaska trying 107.0 108.5 to fi nd their own mining claims. 100 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Males per 100 Females Gold was found at Anvil Creek on the Seward Peninsula in 1899, causing a rush of people to the new town site of Nome. The rush Figure 4: Number of males per 100 females in Alaska, 1890 to 2010 transformed the view of Alaska in the na onal (U.S. Census)

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 9 100% 5.7% 9.3% 8.8% 7.3% 7.0% 6.3% 15.3% 15.0% 12.9% 3.7% 90% 18.4% 18.1% 3.9% 3.7% 3.8% 5.2% 4.3% 7.6% 10.8% 11.6% 11.8% 11.1% 9.2% 10.3% 80% 13.0% 16.2% 12.4% 13.4% 11.3% 15.8% 70% 16.8% 16.7% 15.5% 11.4% 18.8% 21.7% Southwest 60% 14.5% 14.0% 19.0% 18.6% Northern 16.6% 50% Gulf Coast 16.0% 17.1% Interior 40% 9.1% 24.8% 47.8% 48.4% 51.0% 53.6% Anchorage/Mat-Su 5.8% 6.0% 27.7% 38.9% 43.6% 30% Southeast 1.1% 20% 31.7% 32.6% 34.8% 10% 23.6% 21.9% 15.7% 14.2% 13.4% 12.5% 11.7% 10.1% 0% 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010

Figure 5: Propor on of Alaska popula on by economic region, 1910 to 2010 (U.S. Census)

The Gold Rush era also transformed the racial and an addi onal 4,134 in surrounding se le- makeup of Alaska. In 1900, the indigenous Alas- ments. Many other previously remote parts ka Na ves were a minority for the fi rst me, at of saw newcomers as diff erent 46 percent of the total popula on. Whites came groups staked gold claims. in large numbers. The 1900 census counted 30,493 whites (90 percent of whom were male) Other large scale mining projects run by out- in the territory, up from 4,298 ten years earlier. side companies a racted many new workers. Foreign-born whites made up about 29 percent On Douglas Island, the company towns of of this total, with nearly half of them from Swe- Douglas and Treadwell saw large increases in den, Norway, and Canada. However, the largest popula on during the decade. Douglas grew foreign-born popula on in 1900 was the Chi- from 825 people in 1900 to 1,722 people in nese, with about 3,100 people. Over the next 1910 — larger than its neighbor Juneau (1,644) few decades, the Chinese popula on in Alaska — and Treadwell grew from 522 people to shrank considerably while the Swedish and Nor- 1,222 in the same period. wegian popula on con nued to grow.

By the 1910 Census, Alaska se lement had INTERWAR PERIOD shi ed as the rush for gold tapered off . The ter- ritory as a whole gained just 764 people from laska‘s popula on stagnated between the 1900 to 1910. Nome, which by some es mates Atwo World Wars. The gold boom had large- reached 20,000 in the years just a er 1900, had ly petered out, leaving most prospectors look- fallen in popula on to 2,600. Skagway had also ing for opportuni es elsewhere. Mining now lost popula on, from 3,117 down to 858. o en fell into the hands of large businesses that only needed a set number of employees. New mining areas developed in other parts of For example, the huge Kenneco Copper Mine the territory, though. Fairbanks, founded in was owned and operated from 1911 to 1939 1901 and soon to see its own gold boom, was by a small syndicate led by the Guggenheim Alaska’s largest town by 1910 with 3,541 people family. It produced tremendous returns for in-

10 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT Fishing became the primary source of popula on change between the two world wars. vestors — $207 million worth of ore — but did not radically realign Alaska’s popula on and the area was deserted a er closure. (Borneman) The economy of the territory had changed, and the popula on followed.

The 1920 Census recorded 55,036 people in Alaska, a 14.5 percent drop from 1910, which was due to several factors beyond the decline of mining. One was World War I — many of the men who were working in the territory le to join the army or war-related industries. Be- tween 1910 and 1920, the number of males per 100 females in Alaska dropped from 247 to 168.

Another reason for the decline was the world- wide infl uenza epidemic of 1918-1919. The global disease spread to Alaska and hit Alaska Na ves par cularly hard. Several villages in Western Alaska, including Wales on the Bering Strait, were prac cally wiped out by the dis- ease. All told, several thousand Alaska Na ves likely died from infl uenza during that me.

Fishing became the primary source of popula- on change between the world wars. In South- east, record harvests drove many to work on boats and in canneries. Salmon catches gradually rose through the interwar period, peaking in 1939 at levels not seen again un- l the 1980s. (Colt) Most of the salmon were caught by outside canning companies with huge salmon traps, drawing the ire of many local fi sh- FigureFigure 6: MapMap ooff and “Rai“Raill ermen who later worked to outlaw the traps in Belt” communi es during interwar period the state cons tu on.

The expansion of commercial fi shing led to a Ketchikan would remain one-two through the general realignment of popula on during the 1930 and 1940 censuses. period. Southeast Alaska — with its ice free wa- ters, fi shing heritage, and proximity to Sea le The Alaska Railroad, started a few years before fi sh markets — was the major benefi ciary of American entry into World War I in 1917 and this change. The region went from 23.6 percent fi nished in 1923, did not have as much of an of the territory’s popula on in 1910 to 34.8 immediate eff ect on popula on se lement in percent in 1940. (See Figure 5.) By 1920, Juneau the early days as o en thought. had regained its posi on as the largest city in Alaska with Ketchikan, a cannery and fi shing A railroad work camp at Ship Creek spawned town, as the second-largest city. Juneau and the city of Anchorage in 1914. The future big-

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 11 gest city in Alaska was slow to develop in its When civil government fi nally came to Alaska early years, but was s ll one of Alaska’s largest in 1912 with the territorial legislature, Alaska ci es in 1920 at 1,856 people. By 1930, it had Na ves had more interac on with the Ameri- only grown to 2,277 and by 1940, with the start can poli cal process and formed organiza ons of military construc on, the popula on was to demand more poli cal rights. The fi ght for 3,495. banning discrimina on in public places, culmi- na ng in the An -Discrimina on Act in 1945, The region along the railroad route, commonly foreshadowed the Alaska Na ve Land Claims referred to as the Rail Belt (see Figure 6), grew fi ghts as well as the civil rights movement of the modestly but lagged behind Southeast Alaska. 1960s. Fairbanks’ popula on fell to 1,155 in 1920 due to the mining industry decline and did not reach its 1910 popula on level again un l WORLD WAR II AND THE World War II. Seward, with 534 people in 1910, COLD WAR MILITARIZATION grew slowly during the interwar period and had 949 people in 1940. Its fortunes would change o other single event in Alaska’s history has with the war as well. Nhad as big an eff ect on se lement pa erns as World War II. For the fi rst me since the The interwar period also brought early se le- Alaska Purchase, the U.S. government saw Alas- ment of the Matanuska-Susitna area. There ka’s strategic military value and invested heavily had long been Athabascan se lements along in building up its infrastructure. (Hummel) The the river valleys as well as in the village of Knik, U.S. built new airfi elds and bases, roads, and located on the Knik Arm of Cook Inlet. But due docks, and improved communica on. to the region’s remoteness, outside migra on into Mat-Su did not really begin un l the Alaska A fl ood of newcomers in uniform arrived, and Railroad. Several sta ons on the railroad at- many would decide to make Alaska their home tracted se lers and eventually developed into once they le the military. Shortly a er the towns, including Wasilla. S ll, the region was a surrender of Japan and the end of World War minor part of Alaska through the 1930 census. II, even more military investment in Alaska fol- lowed as tensions between the U.S. and the So- The lower Mat-Su, roughly corresponding to viet Union led to the Cold War. Un l it was later the area south of Talkeetna, had 460 people in supplanted by the oil economy, military spend- 1930. The Federal Emergency Relief Administra- ing would be the dominant economic force in on, a New Deal program, selected 200 farm Alaska and forever change the popula on. families from cold Midwest states to rese le in Mat-Su in 1935. The area around the se le- Before the war, Alaska was mostly ignored in ments is now the town of Palmer, which by military planning. (Hummel) Forts had been 1940 grew to more than 1,400 people. Though built and abandoned in many diff erent places the massive growth of Mat-Su was s ll decades since 1867. The Army typically kept order in in the future, the founda on had been laid. rowdy mining regions, but when the prospec- tors moved on, so did the soldiers. By the late Alaska Na ves during the interwar period in- 1930s, the only base in Alaska was the Chilkoot creased as a propor on of Alaska’s popula on. Barracks (Fort Seward) in Haines. This gold A sizable minority of 39 percent of the overall rush-era base had only 300 soldiers and no way popula on in the 1910 Census, Alaska Na ve to move them except for an old tugboat, leav- popula on numbers were almost even with ing the en re territory prac cally defenseless. whites through most of the interwar period. In (Naske) the 1930 Census, Alaska was 50.6 percent Na- ve, the last me to date when whites were At the same me, the Empire of Japan began not the majority in Alaska. making aggressive movements in the Pacifi c. A Five-Power Naval Treaty signed in 1922 by the Though full ci zenship came in 1924, poli cal victors of World War I specifi ed no new naval rights for Alaska Na ves followed more slowly. bases would be allowed in the Pacifi c. Though

12 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT Figure 7: Map of U.S. Army Airfi elds of World War II

the U.S. abided by the treaty and had not built any bases in the Aleu ans, Japan pulled out of Before the war in the 1940 Census, Southeast was the treaty in 1934. Following Japanese inva- the most populous part of the territory. By the end sion of China coupled with the beginning of the war in Europe, the U.S. military fi nally began to of the war, Anchorage was Alaska’s largest city — build in Alaska. (See Figure 7.) a tle it has not given up since.

In 1939 and 1940, the Army built new bases in Anchorage (Fort Richardson) and Fairbanks Alaska with the lower 48 states and construc- (Ladd Field). These new bases, along the Alaska on quickly followed of the Glenn Highway, Railroad, led to an improvement in port facili- which linked Anchorage to the na onal road es in Seward as well as upgrades to the rail- system. road. A plan also was put in place to blast a tun- nel to Passage Canal (Whi er) to provide a rail- These developments, along with the new road route that avoided the steep grades on the bases, secured the primacy of Anchorage and . The military built several new Fairbanks. Before the war in the 1940 Census, supply airfi elds in places such as Anne e Island Southeast was the most populous part of the and Yakutat, which were used in 1941 to supply territory, with Juneau and Ketchikan its two military equipment to Russia. By the me of the largest ci es; by the end of the war, Anchor- December 1941 a ack on Pearl , 20,000 age was Alaska’s largest city — a tle it has not soldiers were in Alaska. given up since.

A er the U.S. entered the war, things moved The war also brought many servicemen to quickly. Military building over the next three Alaska. In 1942, the Japanese invaded and oc- years would have a las ng eff ect on Alaska set- cupied the far western Aleu an islands of A u tlement. The , built in 1942 from and — the fi rst me since the War of Alberta, Canada, to Fairbanks, at last connected 1812 that American territory had been taken by

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 13 100% planners. (Hummel) Alaska sat just across the

90% narrow Bering Strait from the USSR and was po- si oned where plane routes to East Asia or to 80% Europe over the polar regions were navigable. 70% 60% During the war, the military had built bases all 50% Civilian through the Aleu ans for supplying the fi ght Military 40% against Japan. In the Cold War, base construc-

30% on and deployment of soldiers were over-

20% whelmingly in the Anchorage and Fairbanks areas. In 1947, construc on began on Eielson 10% Air Force Base, the largest airfi eld in the world 0% 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 at the me. (Hummel) In Anchorage, the war me Fort Richardson became Elmendorf Air Force Base and a new Fort Richardson was Figure 8: Military and civilian propor ons of Alaska popula on, built just east of it. The concentra on of forces 1940 to 1960 (Rogers) in these two ci es led to their predominance in Alaska popula on and the increased urban- force. Japanese bombing a acks on Unalaska iza on of the territory. caused further concern that the Japanese would invade the North American mainland via The early Cold War years had a large eff ect on Alaska. Though capture of the islands turned Alaska’s popula on and economy. Between out to be a diversion from the main Japanese 1940 and 1970, the military was the biggest a ack at Midway, American soldiers streamed employer and biggest spender in the state. into Alaska to help recapture them. (Conn) (Hummel) In the early 1950s, with the start of the Korean War, a huge infl ux of soldiers In 1943, the year U.S. forces recaptured A u entered Anchorage and Fairbanks and brought and Kiska, soldiers in Alaska numbered 152,000, their families with them, unlike World War more than double the territory’s total popula- II. The territory’s housing infrastructure was on of 72,524 in the 1940 Census. Without in- greatly undeveloped and strained to house all frastructure to house this many troops, military the new migrants. Large government housing construc on boomed, and between 1941 and fi nance programs spurred building in Anchor- 1945, the government spent well over $1 bil- age and Fairbanks. lion in Alaska, or nearly $13 billion in 2012 dol- lars. (Hummel) This infl ux of federal money and Leading up to statehood in 1959, defense- soldiers helped make Anchorage the economic related construc on was the largest source of capital of the territory. personal income for Alaskans. (Hummel) Be- tween 1949 and 1953, the government spent Following the surrender of Japan in the late an average of $250 million per year. summer of 1945, it appeared Alaska could fall into popula on and economic decline similar to All of the defense-related economic growth the end of the gold rush era. (Hummel) Many profoundly changed Alaska se lement. The of the prewar industries such as fi shing or min- Anchorage and Fairbanks areas, about 15 per- ing had been suspended or greatly reduced due cent of the popula on in 1940, increased to 40 to the loss of manpower or government war- percent by 1950. By 1960, those two ci es and me shutdowns. The military also looked as if their surrounding areas would have more than it would scale back Alaska opera ons as part of half of Alaska’s popula on, with much of the the general postwar demobiliza on. The num- growth during the Korean War. The Anchorage ber of soldiers in the territory fell from 60,000 area grew 52 percent between April 1950 and in 1945 to 19,000 the following year. December of 1951.

But as the Cold War emerged, Alaska’s strate- In 1951 and 1952, net migra on to Alaska was gic posi on would prove invaluable to military higher than 20,000 people per year and its de-

14 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT mographics began to shi . In 1952, the enlist- ed por on of Alaska’s popula on hit a postwar high of 26 percent. The propor on of Alaska that was white also greatly increased between 1940 and 1960. In 1940, whites were just 54 percent of the popula on, with Alaska Na ves close behind at 44 percent. By 1960, shortly a er Alaska became a state in 1959, nearly 4 in 5 Alaskans iden fi ed themselves as white. NORTH SLOPE CRUDE AND OIL BOOM AND BUST

n 1968, geologists with the Atlan c Richfi eld ICompany, or ARCO, struck oil in Prudhoe Bay. Though there had been oil discoveries earlier in Alaska’s history, such as on the Kenai Penin- sula in the late 1950s, no discovery had been this big. The fact that the largest oil fi eld in North America was discovered on state-owned land meant a fi nancial windfall. The lease sale on September 10, 1969 yielded $900 million, about nine mes higher than the en re state budget the previous year.

However, construc on of the Trans-Alaska Oil Pipeline did not start un l 1974, as it was de- layed by the se lement of Alaska Na ve land claims and debate over the environmental im- pact. Workers poured into the state intent on ge ng in on the high-paying jobs and wealth available, and Alaska’s net migra on hit 30,222 in 1975 followed by 19,576 net migrants in 1976. The state popula on had grown 18 per- cent in just two years, from 348,100 in 1974 to 409,800 in 1976.

The eff ects of the incoming popula on were Figure 9: Map of the Alaska Pipeline not spread evenly throughout the state. Some Route, with worker camps, 1974 to areas experienced li le if any pressure from in- 1977 and pump sta ons coming residents, while others were stretched thin. Along the pipeline route, a “Skinny City” of pipeline camps popped up to house the comers caused shortages in available housing workers. (See Figure 9.) While most are nothing and jobs. Fairbanks, the jumping-off point and more than gravel today, during the three years recrea onal retreat of many pipeline workers, of pipeline construc on 60,000 workers moved was burs ng at the seams. Traffi c increased through the camps, with many being among in the city, new residents put a strain on city Alaska’s largest se lements. services and u li es, and prices of goods shot up with all the money pipeline workers were Among established ci es, Anchorage was best making. (Cole) Valdez, the terminus of the pipe- able to weather the storm of newcomers due line on Prince William Sound, weathered even to its already-large popula on. S ll, many new- greater strain. Its popula on rose from 1,300 in

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 15 580,000 1970s began having children. The birth rate went up from 1.94 in 1976 to 2.43 in 1983, and the 560,000 state’s popula on rose from 401,851 at the 1980 540,000 Census to around 550,000 by mid-decade. Alaska was no longer the least populous state in the 520,000 union, passing Wyoming early in the decade. 500,000

480,000 Then the bo om fell out. The price of oil col-

460,000 lapsed worldwide between 1985 and 1986, which drove Alaska into a deep recession. Peo- 440,000 ple fl ed the state in droves. Between 1986 and 420,000 1987, the state popula on declined statewide and in larger ci es, with the net migra on loss 400,000 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 of 19,245 that translated into an overall popula- on decline of 9,400 when mi gated by natural Figure 10: Alaska popula on in the 1980s (U.S. Census) increase (births minus deaths). A net migra on loss of 15,710 followed in 1988, for an overall popula on decline of 6,300. early 1974 to more than 8,000 in 1976. (Cole) Available housing was nonexistent, and city ser- Though people were s ll leaving by 1989, the vices were stretched thin. rate of loss was low enough that Alaska’s high birth rate reversed the decline. With net migra- on back in the posi ve by 1990, that year’s The pipeline was complete by the summer of census placed Alaska’s popula on at 550,043, 1977, and many of the workers le the state for about the same level as 1986. other jobs, although a considerable number re- mained. Alaska lost approximately 6,400 people by 1978 and grew by only 2,100 in 1979 as de- At the local level, the pipeline years and the par ng pipeline workers con nued to cause a wild swings that followed did not cause as big net loss. Between 1978 and 1979, growth was a a change in Alaska’s popula on distribu on as modest 0.51 percent. the 1940s and 1950s. The dominance of An- chorage remained through the era as oil com- panies made their local headquarters there and The des again began to turn in 1979, when the much of the economic boom centered there. energy crisis caused by the Iranian Revolu on New buildings do ed the Anchorage skyline, laid the seeds of massive growth in the early and parts of the Anchorage Bowl that were 1980s. Oil prices skyrocketed and Alaska’s econ- previously undeveloped began to fi ll in with omy took off . Between 1979 and 1980, Alaska new subdivisions. The region went from 43.6 grew by 6,100 people, followed by a jump of percent of the state’s popula on in 1970 to 48.4 14,500 people between 1980 and 1981. percent of the popula on in 1990. In the 1990s, Anchorage and Mat-Su would cross the 50 per- The 1980s brought a wild swing in Alaska’s cent line. economy that refl ected in the popula on to- tals. (See Figure 10.) In the early part of the de- cade, two converging factors drove popula on ALASKA SINCE 1990 growth. The fi rst was the high price of oil. In the new Alaska oil economy, this fi lled the state’s y the start of the 1990s, factors that had coff ers and set off an economic boom. Between Bpreviously driven large changes in Alaska 1980 and 1985, net migra on averaged around popula on and se lement began to recede. 15,000. Over the long term, the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the USSR. Strategic The second factor was an “echo boom” of new military planning shi ed away from Alaska, babies born in the state — many of the baby leading to base closures and to a decline in boomers who had se led in Alaska during the military personnel and spending in the state

16 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT Figure 11: Alaska popula on by borough as a propor on of the state, 2010 (U.S. Census) throughout the ‘90s. But with the a acks of cent of the state’s residents in 2010. September 11, 2001 and the war in Afghani- stan, military reinvested in Alaska. S ll, the Alaska has also become more racially diverse military is less of a factor in popula on dy- since 1990. According to the U.S. Census, the namics for the me being. percentage of white residents dropped dur- ing this me period, from 76 percent in 1990 Another large factor, oil, began to stabilize to 67 percent in 2010. However, much of the around 1990. The wild oil boom and bust of nonwhite popula on growth was not driven the 1980s hit Alaska hard, and since that me by Alaska Na ves. Between 1990 and 2010, the state has found itself on more fi rm foot- the propor on of the state made up of non- ing. Alaska’s popula on grew steadily through Na ve minori es grew from about 7 percent the 1990s and 2000s, surpassing Vermont and to around 11 percent, mainly fueled by the in- North Dakota to become the 47th state for pop- crease of Asians in Anchorage. Anchorage went ula on size. Se lement pa erns have changed from having around 9,500 people (4.2 percent) along the margins, but the huge sudden shi s of Asian descent in 1990 to more than 23,000 of earlier eras have been absent. Asians (8.1 percent) in 2010.

Since the oil bust ended in the early 1990s, One major development since 1990 is the the state’s popula on growth has been stable growth of the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. and steady at an average of 1.46 percent each Known since the 1930s for farming, Mat-Su has year. The popula on expanded from 550,043 in grown in popula on at rates far exceeding the 1990 to 626,932 in 2000 and then to 710,231 in rest of the state. The borough was home to 2010. Anchorage/Mat-Su was home to 54 per- just 6,509 people in 1970 before the pipeline

A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT 17 Alaska’s military popula on had a period of de- Since the oil bust ended in the early 1990s, the cline between 1990 and 2010 following the end state’s popula on growth has been stable and of the Cold War and increased again a er the steady at an average of 1.46 percent each year. September 11, 2001 a acks on the World Trade Center, or “9/11,” and the subsequent start of the U.S. government’s “War on Terror.” In 1990, the twilight of the Cold War, Alaska had about boom. By 1990, its popula on was 39,683. In 23,000 ac ve duty military members, or about the 20 years between, the oil boom and eco- 4 percent of the state. Following the breakup of nomic growth spurred massive development of the , Alaska sustained a series of the land, and increased traffi c led to widening base closures that reduced its military numbers. and improvement of the Glenn Highway. This allowed people to live in Mat-Su bedroom com- muni es and commute to Anchorage for work. The largest closure was Adak Naval Base in the Aleu ans, which had more than 2,500 service members in 1990 and was shut down by mid- Since 1990, Mat-Su’s popula on has con nued to grow an average of 6.2 percent a year, and decade. Other general shi s lowered the num- in 2010, its popula on stood at 88,995. During bers of service members on other bases as well, that period, Mat-Su went from 7 percent of the and by 2000 the statewide military total was state’s popula on to 13 percent. (See Figure down to about 17,500. 11.) A er 9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan, Alas- An important popula on change in Alaska since ka’s strategic value again came into play, and 1990 is the migra on of rural residents, par- state army bases have seen large increases since cularly Alaska Na ves, to the urban centers of 2000. The Army makes up about 55 percent of the state. Though it’s o en perceived as a one- the state’s military today, up from around 40 way emptying of rural Alaska, the truth is more percent in 1990. By 2010, the military popula- complicated. on had rebounded to its 1990 level of around 23,000. It’s true that the Alaska Na ve majority areas of the state have con nual net migra on losses. A HISTORY OF CHANGE Between 2000 and 2010, 2,364 people moved from Na ve majority areas each year and 1,513 laska’s popula on se lement pa erns re- came in, for a net migra on loss of 851 people veal its history. The Alaska Na ve villages per year. For those moving within Alaska, most A that dot the coastline and rivers hearken back go to Anchorage though large numbers rese le in Fairbanks and Mat-Su as well. millennia. Many Pacifi c Ocean ports s ll center on a , and many old mining buildings s ll stand though the prospec- Though this net migra on loss has an eff ect, tors are long gone. If you drive on a highway Na ve majority areas have a higher-than- that connects the large urban areas of Alaska or average birth rate that has allowed them to fl y into a small town airport, chances are they generally keep pace with statewide growth. As were built during World War II. The pipeline a percentage of the state’s popula on, Na ves camps are long gone, but the oil economy they only fell from 10 percent to 9 percent between built s ll shapes the state popula on se le- 1990 and 2000. ment. The percentage of Alaska Na ves who live in the fi ve most urban boroughs — Anchor- Alaska’s popula on history is fi lled with sud- age, Fairbanks, Mat-Su, Kenai, and Juneau — den changes that reshaped it, and future events jumped from 42 percent in 2000 to 49 percent have the poten al to change the picture yet in 2010. The eff ects this urbaniza on will have again. One lesson from Alaska’s popula on his- on the Alaska Na ve community remain to be tory is that nothing lasts forever, and Alaska’s seen. des ny is not set in stone.

18 A HISTORY OF ALASKA POPULATION SETTLEMENT REFERENCES

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Cole, D. (1997). Amazing Pipeline Stories: How Building the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Transformed Life in America’s Last FronƟ er. Fairbanks: Epicenter Press.

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Conn, S., Engelman, R., Fairchild, B. (1964). “Guarding the United States and its Outposts.” DC: US Government Prin ng Offi ce. Available at h p://www.history.army.mil/ books/wwii/Guard-US/index.htm#contents

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Langdon, S. (2002). The NaƟ ve People of Alaska. Anchorage: Greatland Graphics

Naske, C. (1994). Alaska, a history of the 49th State. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press

Rogers, G., Cooley, R. (1963). Alaska’s PopulaƟ on and Economy. College, AK: Ins tute of Busi- ness, Economic and Government Research

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